The Chesterfield football history resource

Sheffield-born
Bob Bloomer joined the club on a non-contract basis after being spotted playing for
Harrow United, Sheffield junior side, and signed pro forms in August 1985.
Reliably cheerful, his willingness to play to the best of his ability all the
time led to his appearing regularly and catching the eye, despite playing
through in struggling Spireites side.

Bob's
sale to Bristol Rovers on deadline day 1990 took everyone by surprise and
clearly had an adverse effect on the club's promotion and play-off chances that
season. It was said that the manager, Paul Hart, had a better replacement lined
up but that that move broke down late in the day. When Adrian Shaw was injured
shortly after, the club had no-one who could convincingly slot into the 'engine
room' of the side. The scorer of ten goals from midfield in our relegation
season the year before, Bob's contribution to the side was often undervalued,
but few will forget the strutting pride of his walk as he led the Spireites out
at Bramall Lane in 1988-9, before scoring in a famous victory.

Having
been sent off twice in a month in 1986-7, Bob matured into a responsible and
perceptive player and was playing some of his best football in a Town shirt at
the time of his sale. Bob's value can perhaps best be demonstrated by the fact
that he was one of only a few Chesterfield players around this time to move to
a better-placed club for a transfer fee. After a spell as a reserve at Twerton
Park, Bob was freed to Cheltenham, where he happily made a full recovery in
1995 after a badly broken leg had threatened his career.

With
the Robins, Bob became regarded as a Cheltenham legend. A Wembley winner in the
1998 FA Trophy, he became a Conference champion in 1999 and a Football League
player again! He retired in the summer of 2001 to become Cheltenham's youth team
coach and served in various capacities before leaving for a job with the
Football League, where Bob now works as a monitor of Centre of Excellence
standards.